To become a god
Cosmology, Sacrifice, and Self Divinization in Early China
Michael J. Puett
Published by (he Harv3rd University Asia Center for (he H arvard-Yenching Institute Distributed by Harvard U niversity Press
Cambridge, Massachu5ens, a~d London, England, 2.00:2. I Anthropomorphizing the spirits Sacrifice and Divination in Late Bronze Age China
In both strains of the secondary literature discussed in me Introduction, a common reading of the Chinese Bronu Age pTev2m: humans and spiries were seen as continuous and were perceived to be harmoniously linked. Moreover, this period is repeatedly sun .as the formarive era in Chinese his tory. the period when one first finds the assumption of a continuity between the human and divine realms that, the argument goes, thereafter petvades Chinese history. Weber saw this .as a restricting aspect of Chinese culrore. as did Roct'Z, who argued that it ultimately reversed the transcendenw break through of the Axial Age. Most of the scholars we looked at, howevcr, from Chang and Mote to Gnlham and Schwam. fully cdebr.ned it. But is it true! Were humans and spirits seen as linked in a harmonious continuum? And is it true that this period marks the beginning of a set of assumptions that (for bener or worse) predominated in later Chinese history~ In order to explore this question, it will be wonhwhile to look anew at some of these materiaLs :as well :as at some of the secondary literature devoted to the Bronze Age. " ANTHROPOMOR P H I ZING THII SPIRI TS ANTHROPOMORPH I ZING THE SPIRITS J3 ~ interpreted a.s misfortunes, so du.t, if a city were laid out as an im4go mwndi with The Foundations of Chinese Cosmological the cosmogony a.s paradigmatic model, it became necessary co maintain this parallel and Bureaucratic Thought ism betWecn rnOlCTocosmoS :and microcosmos by potrticipation in the seasonal festi vals rhat constituted man's contribution eo the regulation of cyclic rime,:and by in One thinker who has tremendously influenced several recent scholars of the corporating in the planning a gcnerous amount of symbolism! Chinese Bronze Age is Mircca Eliade. It was Eliade who populuized the no tion that primitive culrures univers:lUy
Wu Shang divination an act of Shang shamanism~ The inscriptions make it cleat argues. in part came together because of a common inspiration. they were directed to long-departed mcestors, md that the diviner served as an in that the human being is open to the divine and the spiritual, attuned to the divine termediary. The inscriptions often COntain the word which in later classical texts bin, and the spiritual, and desirous of becoming one with the divine and the spiritual.. I usually means to receive as ;a. guClt or to be a guest. In rhe oracle bone inscriptions, am here referring [ 0 the familiar adage that describes the harmony underlining Chi the wotd is often placed between the word for king md the name of a specific ances nese thought and civilization: Heaven and humanity are one-tianran hqi (literally: tor or of Oi; the Supreme God. A phrase consisting of these dements is sometimes Heaven and the human being join as one).I& interpreted as "the king receives as a guest a specific an ces tor.~ or "the kings receives :u a guest the Supreme God." But more likdy it means [h:u the king "called upon" a Like Han and Ames, Ching posits the notion of a condnuity between departed ancestor or God. . .. In any event, mere was a Shang ritual that enabled H eaven and man as a basic assumprion of Chinese thought. But Ching goes the king and the spirits to be togerher, prClumably brought about by some kind of on [0 claim that the origin of mis notion lies in shamanistic experience: middleman. The act of divination was intended. similady, to bring the middleman diviner and the spirits together. 1l It is an adage that I bdieve ro have originated in that very mystic and ecstatic union bcrween the human being and the possessing deity or spirit. This was [he primeval. The divin;a.tion ritual itself involved either the ascent of rhe shaman to the experience, me experience of a shaman. It was never forgotten. It has been cde spiri ts o r the descent of the spirits to rhe shaman: braced in songs. myths and rituals. It was formulated philosophically as an expres sion of rhe continuum betWeen the human being as the microcosm of the universe as The descent of me spirits or the ascent of the shaman or king was achieved in a nucrocosm. And this microcosm-macrocosm correspondence h:u been basic to manner not a1togerher clear. Music and dance were apparently part of the ce remony. 19 most of philosophising in China. Alcoholic drinks were possibly involved: the Shang were notorious drinkers, and many bronze ritual vessels were dCligned to serve alcoholic beverages. Did the a1co-
'4· Ibid., p. S5· 'So K. C. CMng. "An Essay on Co",; p. 41. 10. 'The: argument is mOlt!UJ.Jy developed in K. C. Chang, Art, M]Ib, QIId Ril~QI. pp. 44-SS. •6. K. C. Chang. "Ancient China and lu Anthropological Signilkame: p. '58. II. K. C. Clung. •Amicnr China and Irl Anthropological Significame; p. 164. 17. K. C. Chang. "An Essay on o,ng: p. 4l. I:l. See. e.g .• K. C. CMng, "The Animal in Shang and Chou Bronu' Art: p. S4J. IS. Ching. MYJtililll' QnJ Kin""ip i,. O,i.... , p. Ki. IJ, K. C. Chang. Art, My1/" GncI /lit""', p. H . 19. Ibid. " ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB SPIRITS ANT HROPOM ORP HIZ ING TH B S PIRITS 31 The ecstatic experience between the sham;1n and deity, therefore, provKlc:d critique, therefore, is based on claims concerning what he calls ·stages of so me: primeval experience of Chinese culture. and the: cOI'n:Litivc: cosmology dal development. - Since the Late Shang kings were ruling a Bronze Age. found in later Chinese philosophy wu an aprc:s.sion of this experience:. 2grarian sate, he concludes thar "the Lue Shang kings were not sh2mans; For Ching. this experience is dirc:cdy comparable to the primeval expe ri or "were, at best, 1ight' or 'small' shamans, whose involvement in the full ences of oneness thac Eliade cites as the root of religious life: sh2manic experience was much reduced from what it might once have been at an earlier stage of societal development: They were ·bureaucratic media· 1" il'" !(mpor( (,Once long ago' or 'Ar thar time'). Thus do the Gospels begin their chaprc: .... ThlU does Mirce.a Eliade des cribe the: primeval, ucred time when human tors" who had ·so routinized and dis'iplined older forms of religious medi2' kind had irs original experience of onenell$ with the deity. This ~wu an aperience tion" that only the "dvilized trappings" of an earlier shamanism would still recapitulated in myrh and run:l.cted. in rirnal. Eliade speaks more of India. and of have existed. n the Australian aborigines, then he does of Chinese civilisation. But his insight. mu This argument thu the Shang state was orderly, bureaucrat\(", and "civi raW mutandis, is relleered in the: ChineJe experience as wdl. 2S I have just de lized" recurs throughout Keightley's artick.. Thus, he reads the bi" ritual ac. scribed. ;K) cording to a similar bureaucratic meft{aliry .l~ concluding. in opposition to Chang. that the ritual was nor shamanistic: A primordi.al experience of a linbge between hwnans and deities exists in all humanity, and the distinctiveness of Chinese civilization lies in its remem The Shang king was the ,ommunicacor with rhe hierarchy of the dead; he attracted. brance of this experience. them to his cult ,cntcr, in sequence, with rigorously scheduled sacrifices and hosted A very different approach to the study of Bronze Age China has been them with ordered groups of rituals; he com municated with them through thc undertaken by David Keightley. Although he occasionally qUOtes Eliade,lI highly formali«d techniques of pyromandc divinarion: he commissioned irucrip Keighdey's understanding of the Shang originates in very different intellec tions, caflled into divination bones, th1t recorded the whole procedure in detail. Or derly divination, che hosting of guests (whether a1ivc or dead), sacrifice-chese were tual sources. Accordingly, his interpretation differs markedly from those the ways of civiliud. men dealing.. nor with the wild and the unknown, not with ec scholars, such as Wheatley, Chang. and Ching. who base their interpret:!. static inspiration or [rance, but, through ritual and schedule, with their own kin. ~ tions of the Slung upon Elude. In particular, Keightley rejects {he shaman istic hypothesis. Both sacrifice and divination are here explic:tble as expressions of a rational, In cOnfTaSt to both K. C. Chang and Julia Ching. David Keighdey has bureaucr:ltic, civilized system. rather than of the shamaniscic model ad· convincingly questioned the prevalence (or even presence) of shamanism in vanced by Chang. Bronze Age C hina.21 Keighdey's argument, based on an exhaustive review of Keightlet's concern wich rationalization in the successive stages of social the evidence, is that Chang's theory of the continuing presence of shaman development reveals a scrong Weberian influence. And, like Weber, Keight· ism in the Shang is wrong. To the contrary, Keighcley argues, the transition ley is interested in how the religious orientations he finds in the Shang to a state society involved a routiniution and control of whatever shamanis played out in bter Chinese history. So, like Chang. Keightley sees the Shang tic practices might have existed earlier. Shamanism as discussed by figures 2S che origin of later Chinese cultural orientations, although he and Chang Wee Chang would have ·flourished at an earlier, pre-agrarian, hunrer read this history very differently. k Keighdey argues in his seminal 'The gatherer sage of social deveiopment." "The rise of agrarian cultures, accord. Religious Commitment: Shang Theology and the Genesis of Chinese Politi· ingly, like that of the Late Shang. has been associated with a reduction of me ("11 Culture": "It is the argument of this exploratory essay rh2t the secul2r role played by shamans at the sate levd, or by its reorienation.- Keighdey's values and institutions representing che great tradition of the Zhou and Han dynasties were characterized to a significant extent by habits of thinking and
10. Ibid., pp. %i-xii. 11. Ibid., pp. 816-17, ho. 11 . Sec, e.g., Keiglllky, "Tilt; Rcligiow Comm!ulIent: p. 115",8. 14. Ibid., pp. 808-14. See ilio Keigtulcy, "T~ Rcligiow CO'lImiulIem: p. 118. u . Keig/nley, "ShamiUliJ.m, Dt>.lh, and rhe Aneuton." 1}. Keiglu ley, "Sh.:ltnaniJm, Duth.. and the Anculon: p. Bll., ,8 ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB SPIRITS ANTHP.OPOMOP.PHIZING THB SPIRITS " acting mat had been sanctified at least a millennium earlier by the: religious IfWheadey (like Chang and Ching in this particular sense) saw the signiS. logic of the Shang theology and cuk..26 C:lnce of C hina as lying in its embodiment of. in the fullest sense, a primor For Kcightley, however. what one finds in the Shang is not Chang's sha dial cosmological emphasis on the linkage of the hwn211 and sacred reahns, manism bur Weber's vision: !he radical world optimism which Weber Keightley sees the signific211ce in the peculi:lr bureaucr;lric logic of Shang identified as a central Confucian value was already present in Shang religious religion.lI belief...:'7 As he: ebbo(;lccs: "In Weberian terms, then. we can refer co the hi However, as we saw in the Introduction. the Webemn reading of Chi· erarchical. contractual, rational. routini:z:c:d. m:arhc:nurical. computmental nese culture does shue a number of similarities with the cultura.l·essentialist ized nature of Shang ancestor worship as bureaucratic . ..2I The Shang. then. model underlying (in somewhat different ways) Wheatley'S and Chang'S in wu the o rigin of a bureaucratic mentality that Weber-correctly. in Kcight terprerarions. Thus, although Keightley rejects the sh:lm:lnism hypothC5is ley's view-saw as a dominant aspect oflaccr Chinese culture. For Keighdey, for euly Chin:l 2lld a.lthough he does implicitly revise Wheatley'S interprera the oracle-bone inscriptions uvea.! a bureaucratic mentality mat both rou rion, he a.Iso sees hwnans 2lld divinities as harmoniously linked in early tinized whatever sh2lt\.aniscic tendencies might have c:r1sred in me Neolithic China. He explicitly compares this with the situation in early Greece: period and iniri:ated the "radical world optimism" th.u Keighcley, foUowing 'Greek epia also derive much of their complexity 2lld dramatic tension from Weber, seu as characterizing later Chinese culture. the frank recognition th:lt unresolvable conflicts exist in the world. This Keight!ey's position leads him to a view of urban genesis somewhat differ fund.amenta.l assumption is symbolized in the conflict between the va.lucs ent from that given by Wheatley. H e refers quite F...vorably to Wheatley's em and wills of men and gods: According to Keighdey, no such discord be· phasu on the importance of religion in the genesis of the Chinese stue.29 But tween gods and men can be found in e:lrly China: "There was little discord Keightley reads the significance of religion in Chin:l differently. IfWhudey is between gods and men ... , The Chinese knew neither a Prometheus nor a '7 _ Hn working from Eliade, Kcightley is working from Weber. Aner describing the ~~ . importance of religion for the Sh:lngu;ue, Keighdey continues; Like Wheacley, Chang. and Ching. therefore, Keighdey sees in the Shang the origiN of what he deems to be dominant orienrations of Chinese There is nothing uniquely ChinC5e in this account 10 far. RdigiotU bdieflw played thought. Moreover, a.lrhough his reading of these domimnt orienrations is limilar rolell in the genC5is of other Statell. ' Kcighcley providC5 another reference here bued on a Weberian imerpreCition and a.ltho ugh he (very convincingly, in to Wheacley.) Signiflcant in the Chinelle f;aSe, however, were the moda of concepru aliz.uion cemu..! ro the rheology. For it is in the logical rdatiolUhips that Shangtheol. my opinion) rejects the shamanism hypothesis. he. too, emphasizes a con· ogy POSnllated as bas ic, and in the emotiolU as$ociated with those rdarionshiJl', that rrast between China and Greece bued on the tragic cwmology of the former we find the characteristic dements which influenced the devdopment of political cul· and the optimistic cosmology of the l:ltter. Indeed, Keightley's critique of ture in Zhou and later rimes: We find, in fact, a paradoxical situarion: a Shang ltate C h:lng was aimed a.lmost entirely at pointing OUt the lack of 2lly evidence for penneated with a commitment to the anCC5tOrs, strongly religious in the torality of it. ecst:ltic techniques :lnd ascensions. But the most imporunt issue for Chang demands; and yet we find that the commitment can be chana:eriud as nonreligiolU, was his claim that, in the Shang. humans 2fld gods were linked in har· nonmysreriolU, and- because 10 explicidy goal direaro-rational in its logic. The mony- and Keighdey, despite his enormous differences from Chang. logic may be characterized, in faa, with approprUte caurioru to which I shall rerum, as "bureaucratic' in Max Weber's sense of the term. JO
]1. Keiatulq'l argument is forulwiowd in a ~ of Whc.adey·s boolc rh.n Keightlq liS, Keiglnky, !be Religious Commitment: pp, llZ - ll. wrote lOn\e five yean ~fOu ,1M: artide uoder dis .accepts this as well. As was noted in the Introduction. [he Webf:rim per Crackmwng on xi"m~o, Nei divining: the king will have the mwng of misfor spective 2nd the culrural-euentialisr perspective (Ktighdey and Chang re tune." (Heji 5)6) spectively, in this insrance) read early China in similar ways. Cradtmalcing on .xi"mAo, Zheng divining: "The king will not have the mwng of Thus, although Chang and Ching emphasize me shammiscic union of milfortUne." (H cji 5)6) humOlJ1 and deity in the ou.cle bones, 2nd Keighcley emphasizes ratiorul. bu Crackmaking on WIIXU. Bin divining: "This city will be without the having of misfor reaucratic hierarchy. aU three agree that Shang divination and sacrifice prac tune." (Heji1.8sa) tices reveal an :u.sumption of harmony between humans and diviniries. In what follows. I question pans of [his reading. In doing so, 1. follow D2vid Divining: "This city will have the sending down of misfortUne.· (Hcji 7.8S1) Keighcley's research on Shang oncle·bone inscriptions closely and. in par A con5=t give-and-take eristed berween human actions and divine ticular, build directly on Keightley's arguments concerning whal he: alli powers. In a world controlled by spirits. certain human actions we re seen u "making the ancestors.oJ) But I .argue that 2cceprance of Keighdey's .argu coming intO contact with divine powers, and it was thus around these ac menu opens to question some of the notions of harmony thar Keighdey tions thar sacrifices, rituals, .and divinations came to be associated. The goal himself, u well as so many other scholars, want to read into the Shang. of these .activities was to influence. moll ify, and determine the will of the di vine powers, to persuade them to grant assistance, and to prevent (hem from The Agon of Humans and Spirits in the Lire Shang making disasters. T :ike, for ex.ample, the issue of m::tking ::t settlement. Following .are a T he main god of the pantheon was Di,}04 who conrrolled the wind and rain: number of inscriptions from Period 1:36 Divining: "Cnckmwnf on "i"Oi" (day )J, Zheng divining: This eleventh momh, Divining: "The king will make a Settlement, [for if he doa] Di will approve." (Hej Di will order [he rain: ' 14,101) Divining: "This eleventh month. Di will not order the rain: (Hcji s.6S8 ]E) Divining: "The king ought not to make a. settlement. (for ifhe dOCl not] Di will ap Divining: "On the next guim~o [day 40J, Di will order windJ: (H cji 6721£) prove." (Heji 14.101) The vel)' existence of these divinations implies that there is no belief here Cradtmaking on renz-i, Zheng divining: · We will make a settlement, (for if we doJ that O i will necessarily give rain when humans need it. Dj will nOf oppose." Approved. Third month. (Heji 14,106) Indeed, Oi often created disuters for the king; In order to nuke a stttlement, a divination must be performed to dttennine Oi will make (fori the king misfortUne. (Heft 14,182) the will of OJ. It seems plausible to hypothesiu that founding a settlemmt As did other spirits: involved bringing divinely controlled natural elements inco the human re.alm and required divin.ation to determine if the action would be accepuble (0 Oi. Que divining: "Huan (the Huan River] will make (for) this city misfortUne.· (Heft Conmry to Whe.adey, me making of a settkment did not involve correlative 7,8S4) concerns or a notion of an uu mundi. The concerns were based, instead. on One of the concerns in divin.adon was thus (0 discover whemer the divine a potentially agonistic relationship between humans and Di: Oi controlled powers intended (0 send down misfortune: )6. Period I is Dong Zuobin', lerm fo r th. e~rlicl1 grouping of oracle,bone inscripriollJ, dating 10 the reign ofWu Ding. For convenient 'tllllmarie, of the issues Jurrounding the pc l). David Keiglnley. "TI~ Making of the Anccltorl: rlodlUlion of ofacle-bot~ ilUCripriollJ. ge Ktigluley. So.orm of Sha"l Hi,tory. pp. !iI - ill: )4. For the exact naturc ofDi,lee below. pp. 48- 4!i. Sluughnes,y, "Recent Appro.aches 10 Oracfe-aone Pcriodiution": and Li Xueqin and Peng IS. Guo and Hu.jiapwt" IItji sAsS 1E (herein.fter ciled in tI ~ fut 2. tlrji) YUlhang. YiMWFl" p"qi :f'I"jiw. ANTHIlOP O M OIl PHIZING THB SPIIliTS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T H B S PIRITS (he land, and humans had to utilize rituals to mae that land available for On p ihai divining: ~ W e will pray for millet, {starting] from ShangJia.· J7 human use. On foho .. divining: "The king will order the opening of the flclds at Jing: Agriculture was another repeated (opic of concem in (he early porrions of "At PN open thefldds: (Htji n,~) the corpus of oracle bones. Like the making of a settlement, the preparation of fldds involved a human appro priation of natural elements controlled by T hus, a successlUl millet harvest depended in parr on whether the Many Yin divine powers. As we find in twO Period I inscriptions: opened the fields in the west: according (0 the third inscription in the set, they would receive millet only if they did not prepare the westem fields. Command Yin to prepare the great flddJ. Here again, the hunun appropriation of a field could potentially upset the Ouglu nOl: co mmand Yin to p£epare (he greal: fldds. (Htji 9,471) divine powers. The divinations reflect an attempt to determine whether this act of prepar Plowing involved similar issues: ing the flelds, of readying chern for hwnan appropriation, was acceptable ro Crackmaking on ... , divining: i he multitudes will do the plowing. There will bt the divine powers. no lou... ." (Heft 8) Similar concems underlie the opening of a field for agriculture. The fol As did CUtting grasses for hay: lowing is a set of inscriptions located on a single scapula. Reading from bot Divining: "Do the gnu-cutting [i .e., make hay l. The rain will nOt . , . ." (Htji t3 <7!iB) (om to rop:J.S Moreover, the h:.trvC$ts themselves were controlled by divine powers: Cnpihai, divining: ~ At PN open the fidcb:19 On pilla;, divining: -rhe Many Yin ought nOt undertake the harvesting of the mil On p ihai, divining: "The king will command (he Many Yin to open the fidds in the let: (Ht)i l),209) west, (for if they do, we) shall receive miller." jiaWII, divining: "Today we will lui [sacrifice), [for if we do, we) will receive millet Onpihai divining: "The Many Yi n ought nOI to do (Ihisl, [for ifrhey do nor, we) [i.e., a good harvest)." (Htji 2,124) shall receive millet: On wuchc>l divining: ~ We will pray for millel, (starting) from ShangJia. We will of The goal of these divinations was thus to determine whether the divine fer me /iIw (burning lacriflce): powers would allow hwnans ( 0 appropriate natural resources. But just as divine anions affect the human realm, so human acdons have repercussions in the divine world. I explore (his point more JUI.ly below; here it )1. Indeed, I would quwion not only Whenkfl ruding of the Shangmaurial bw his use is enough to point out that a recurrent concern in the inscriptional material is of a correblive modd to o«DUnl for the riK ofdries in general. As noc:ed above, WheatIey'S :l.l" [0 determine (he proper amount of sacrifices at any given time that will influ gummr concerning rhe uiJ m,,""i wu hued on rhe work of ElUde. Eliadc in rum hued his ar ence the divine powers in a way f2vorable for human concerns: gumenll on the Pan-Babylonian kbolau-with the tn>ci.tI diffe«:nce that the Pan_Babylonian k hobrl l;lW nOlions of the ACted caller as difIUsed !tom the Near East, whereas ElUdt; I.I.W The king will set: fon:h jades to Zu Yi, (give) the burnt sacrifice offering of three them as a I1f1iYC1"W aspcet ofwhat he aIkd primitive cultures. In other wor T he obvious questions, then, are: What precisely are these divine powers, 4). I am here foUowing David Keigbdey·1 imetpl"rnnion or lem ple names. Fa< I brief Wherein lies their ca priciousness, and H ow precisely are human rituals lumnury. see hit Thr AIICe!".J S.rifo~. pp. ))-)5. Krighdey wu re>(ling 19ainn K.. C. supposed to control them!.:) A significant pottion-but by no means all Clunga argumenl "lilt the temple IWJle refkcted different duuni groups wilhin lhe Slung Hnea~; see Clung', lien k:an: A Key 10 [he Hisrory of the Shulg: of the pantheon consists of ancestral spirits. The evidence given hcre- Craclcmaking on WUyill (day lsi. Bin divining: ~ Exorcise Fu Jing to Mother Geng." Crackmaking on yiehow, Que divining: "We ought not perform rhe entertainment (Hcji~715) {ritual}," (Hlji 15.1 751) ~ ... Mocher Geng exo rcise Fu Hao', tooch .~ Divining: "Cheng will be a guest to Di: (Htji IA02. lE) "[We) ought not to Mother Galg aorcise." Divining: "Da Jia will be i guest [0 Cheng." (Htp 1,401.lE) ~Ezorcise the misforrune [0 Father Yi." (Heji 1..1514) Divining: "Cheng will not be a gueS[ [ 0 Di: (Hrji 1,401.lE) Crackmaking on yimllCl, Que divining: ~ E)[omse Fu Hao [0 Father Vi. Cleave Iheep. Divining: "Da Jia will not be a guest ro Cheng: (Hcji 1,401 JE) olTer pig:J, and make a promissory offering of ten penned sheep." (Hcji 1.71) Crackmaking onjillchrll (day 41J, Que divining: "Xia yi will be a guest to, " : (Hrji All these divinations and sacrifices are aimed ae me generation immediately 1,401 lE) above the living. Divining: "Xia Yi will nor be a guest to Cheng." (Hrji l,.40a JE) But, fo r topia like the harvest, higher ancestors would usually be invoked. Divining: "Da, , , will be 1 guest to Di." (Hry 1,401.1E) The foUowing divination begins with the highest ancestor, ShangJia: Divining: ' Xia Yi . ,. 10 Oi." (Hq; 1.401. JE) On gsrihol i divining: "We will pray for millet [sczrring} from ShangJia.~ (Hry )),1.09) Divining: "Da Ji1 will be a guest to Di." (Hrji 1,40a JE) Divining: "Xia Yi will nor be a guest ro OJ." (Hry 1.401 lE) The bill ritual involved anc:mpu by one figure to enterain or treat another. 4S. Much of the crucial work for lhil Wat done by Dong Zuobin and publilhed In his The -figures" involved were humans, an~estors, o r Di. The crucial point, as "Yinxu wen:d yibian ru." On the hierarchy iudf. ICC rhe uKful lummary in Kelglillry, Th Keighdey has argued so effectively, is that the figures in question arc ar- Alltfl".! S 46. Kcightley. ·Slum:mism. Dearh. and {he Ances{ors; pp. 808-14. Su aho Hu Houxuan. -Yin buci >:hong de snangdi he wangdi,' p. 89. so. There are no inscriplioru in which Di dearly rec~iv"-' uc ri6c~. Shima Kunio Ius at· 41. Keigluley. "The Making of {he Ancu{on: p. 9· {elllpled 10 argue due Di did in fact receive Ja,crificu. bUI his evidence is unconvincing; S<:e his 48. Ibid .. p. IS. I"kp bokuji k,"k,w, pp. '95-97. For a ca reful. and convincing. refutation of Shima', argument. 49. Eno. -Wn There a Higl\ God TJ in Shang Rcligiol1r ace Eno. -WII There I High God Ti in Slung Religion"-?p. 7-8. ,0 AN T HROPOMORP H IZING THE SP I RITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T H E SPIR I TS " These artempts to use the bin ri[U:u [0 create and m~tain a proper hier that correer ritual procedure by the Shang kings would result in favors con archy of non-ancestra.l powers can further be seen in the entertainment of ferred by Dj," n A similar ruding of Sh;;mg sacrifice underlies Poe Mu namre spirits such 2S the sun and the Yellow River: chou's understanding: Crackmaking on ]isi {day 42]: "The king will enu:ru.in Ri (the sun). (Htji 12,181) In the [Shang] irucriprioru one senses that the diviner addressed the deities, Of an He will not enterrain [he sun: (Htji 32,181) cescon;, u if they were immcdiacdy accessible. In fact, since man believed so fi rmly char the deities :rnd ancestors actually cceended care and power to the propitiator di Crackmaking on ;.ins; (day 18). divining: "The king will enterrain He {the Yellow reedy. the woc!d of Cl«ra-human powers in che conception of the Shang diviners River} and offer a iiao [burnt-offering $.acrifice)."" • should be seen as havinfi been either conterminous with the human world or a con Crackmaking on Wlzi (day 49J. Lii divining: "The king will entertain Ri (the sun). It tinuous exteruion ofit. will not rain: (Htji 22,519) The ancestors, deities, and humans are on the same pl:rone, and sacrifice al In contrast to the rrarment of D~ the king himself can directly entenain lows for a proper relationship between them: "A person's relationship with these nature powers. But, as we saw with Oi, the hi71 rirual appears to con the powers, moreover, can be described as do ut d eJ.H~ Keighdey :rond (follow neet the non-ancestral divinities with ancestral powers: ing Keighdey) Poo Mu-chou :rore arguing th:ror insofar as the Shang divina Craclunaking on guiwri [day :wJ, Que divining: ·On [he nat jiasMlI [wy :1.1]. the tiona! :rond sacrificial experts saw humans :rond divinities as continuous, a sim king will enterrain ShangJia and Ri. ~ The king prognosticared and said: "It will be ple bureaucratic operation of giving and raking was set up between them: an auspicious enterrainment rieual: They really were emerrained. (H~ji 1.2481£) one gives in order to receive. In making this argument, Keightley is reading China according to a sacrificial model proposed by the early theorists of s:roc The purpose of the ritual was to entertain Shang Jia, the highest Shang an rifice-Edward Tylor, Robertson Smith, and, to some extent, Henri cestor, alongside the sun. It seems reasonable to conclude, therefore, that Hubert and Marcel Mauss.~ ' All these theorists read s:rocrifice as a gift from n:rotur:rol powers as well were being brought into and harmonized wim the an human to god. And Weber lies in this tradition as welL Weber ruds the cestral powers. De:rod hUllUlns are m:rode into ancestors, and non-ancesrral sacrificial do ut des as :ro rationalization of magicS6 -just as he reads the this powers :rore [hen brought into accord with these ancestors. And, in me c:rose worldly orientation of later Chinese religion. of Di, the ancestorS themselves are c:rolled upon to bring Di into the pan In fact, however. Hubert and Mauss's argument COntains more than just theon. :ro discussion of sacrifice as a gift:. Indeed, as many have argued,S7 the defini tions of sacrifice as a gift th:rot still :roppea.r in the work are the weakest parts of T r:ronsforming the Spirirs~ Sactifice in the Sh:rong the argument. Other partS of Hubert and M:rouss's analysis are far more So what does this mean for our understanding of the bill ritual~ I would powerful and m:roy prove more helpful for analyzing Shang sacrificial prac agree with Keightley th:rot Shang rirual process should not be rud as sh:ro tices than the gift: model The main idea behind theif :rorgument is th:rot sacri manistic. Humans do not ascend to the huvens, nor do the :roncestors de fice is a trans formative act. They read the act as involving a series of trans- scend into humans. The ancestors certainly descend to receive their sacri fices, but there is nothing shamanistic abour that. But I would not follow Keightley in reading [his as pro[o-bureaucr:rotic. p. Keighdey, "The Rdigiou, Commitment; pp.114 - LS. And my disagreement comes down to :ro question concerning Keighdey's ar 5). Poo, 1~ Starch oj Pmo",,1 W'!f"r~, p. a8 . gument :robout sacrifices in the Shang. For Keighdey. "Shang religious pr:roc H. Ibid. rice rested upon the do ut des ('I give, in order that thou shouldst give') belief S5. Tylor, Primiri •• Cul/urc. WiIlWn Robemon Smith, Ltrru ... 0" tho Rrfiro" of rlx&mir In contrast, Pankenier argues, the Zhou developed a view bued on the cos 61. Huven was [i>c high god of tt,., Zhou, jwt 1.1 Di "1.1 d", high god of [i>c Shang. Howara-. 1.1 we s.IWI s«, It,., Zhou proemed Hu~n and Oi 1.1 tt,., same deity and wed lhoe mologicallinking of the king with Heaven. twO [emu imerchangubly. When PUt in these terms, the argument seems directly based on the ra Shim> Kunio (10k? YMji k,.,l,]li, pp. 114-36) and, fotlowing him, Robert Eno (1M 0.". tionalization models discussed in the Introduction-the arguments, found foe;,," e''''lto" ojH"'II(". pp. (8)-36) have rried 10 argue ,ha, Huvcn doet in fan appear in in works from Weber to chose commined to a general-religion to philoso lhe Slung inscriptions, reproemed by tt,., graph ~'"' T.I find the argument unperJUUivc. The word oiiNllimply rJen 10 lhe oi'"l day, Ul.rlgrm, 'Ttu: Book ofDocumenu; p. 49; and Nivilon, "An imerprecalioR of the 'Shao po,'" p.• 8 • . ,8 ANTHROPOMORPHIZ I NG THB SPIIt.JTS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SPlIltTS " The king laid to the effect: "Father Yin, as for grearly illustrious Wen and Wu, au The founding of the city is thus presented as .a continwtion of the actions gUst Heaven was extcruivdy of Oi (or He.aven), and it serves to center the rulm. ConcraS{ mis with satisfied with their virtue, and made us. the rulers of Zhou. a countcrpart [of the inscriptionaJ material discussed .above concerning the malOng of settle hinudf). [We] gready rcsponded to and received the great mmrhtc, and led md ments. There, the concern was the human .appropriation of land conrralled embraced by Di. .and the king was .anempting to use u cri6ces:and divin.ation to deter the bordedanch which werc not coming [ 0 court. N one was nO{ opened by Wen', mine will. Here, Oi is the prime mover, directing the king to sc:tde .a and WU'J brilliant glory. It wu Heaven that directed OJ's and gathered their rrunW.te. and it was the former officers who yidded to and as new city. listed their roIen. ro~ing and laboring for the greal mandue. Indeed, the entire relationship berween ancestors .and descendants that And chen august Heaven tirdu,[y Watched oyer and protected us, the rulers of the prev.ailed in the late Slung .appe.ars to h.ave been turned upside down. In· Zhou, and greatly Ifrc:ngrhened the ITUndatc of which [he former kings were the ste.ad ofh.aving me kings determine the ancestors, living kings.are &equendy counrcrpan:. .6 7 presented in Western Zhou bronze inscriptions as simply foUowing the models .and p.aradigms of the anceston. As King Kang states in the Do Yu Heaven granted the mand:irc to the Zhou rulers Wen ~d Wu, and Wen ding: and Wu then served as the counterpart ofHe;vcn on arrh. At first glance, this appears to be qu ire different from the Shang material. Now it is that I approach the modd and receive from King Wen Throughout the Shang mefS there is a strong notion that the world has a upright power. Like King Wen', commanding the tWO or three offid als, now it is proper pattern. However, the evidence dearly reveals this pattern to have that r co mmand you, Yu, bun given by humans to the spirits, not the other way around: living hu to :usist Rang in respectfully supporting the continuance of the power, (Sh (1.61:647) mans, through their ritu.a1s and particularly through their sacrificial system. place spirits into a hierarchy and thereby anempt to obtain an order favor King Kang presenu himself.as following the model of King Wen and receiv· able to themselves. Spirits do not give this pattern to humans; nor leEr (0 ing the latter's power. Even Kang's act of giving commands is posed .as fol· their own devices, would the spirits observe such a hier.archy. And, in fact, lowing in the mold of King Wen. Simil.ariy, the king comm.ands Yu to use even with the full ucri6cial system in piKe, spirits are still quite c.apricious: the same approach of modeling himself on a great .ancestor. the rituals do not alw.ays work. Wh.at appears different about the notion of.a The king said: "Ah. r command you, Yu. to modd yoursdf on your inheritance mand.ate is thn it explicitly comes from He.aven, :md Heaven's suppon is from grandhthcr Nangong. ~ bued on the virtUes of the rulers in question rather than on their rirwl :ac tions. Humans do nO( determine the ancestors; rather, they follow He.aven Instead of the living making me deceased into proper ancesron, the de :and.are rewarded for doing so and punished for not doing so. scendanu .are here presented .as following the deceased. And all .are pan of Thus, for example, the decision by King Cheng. Wu's son and successor, Heaven's larger m:and.ace. We find the following on the Lu So Dong gui, .a to found the city of Luoyang is presented in sever.al Western Zhou texts as vU$t1 &om the reign of King Mu: simply the fulfillment of the wishes of Oi. The ~S h.ao gao· chapter of me It was the king's first month, with the dlt .. :I[ PcP" [day a1) . the king said to the Shdn~u quotes the Grand Protector as making precisely this poinr. effect: The king should come and continue the [work) of the Oi on high, and himself serve "Lu So Dong. in planning. suning from your grandhther :lnd father, {your family) in the center of the land.1Y huhdped , in l.aboring for the Zhou state and hdped in opening up the four quarrer,. May it be exten.ive, 67 . Shirwwa, Killbt. .. ts~m..kw, 10.1'1:6)7. All bron~ inKripcionl are referenced in (ennl Huven'. mandate. In what you have undert:aken, you have not failed.· (Sh of (hit W This concern with coaxing or even controlling the: ancestors appears fre su~de him to accept the new order. These are the actions of a king who KU quently in bronze: inscriptions. For example. in [he 50 Dong gu;, a vessel himself in a position similar to that implied by the Of2cular inscriptions dis from the: middle Western Zhou: cussed above: he is acting in ways th:a.t he is not convinced will be supported by me divine powers and hence perfonns ritwl ;acu aimed at coercing their fl.] Bo Dong. for the first rime will make acceptance. a treasure: for the: western Fat"c. It is 10 be wed to pacify (Jui *: ~) the spirits. Another of the actions aken by Wu after the conquest. the beheading of and to embrace and call OUI to [he earlier, cultured men, who gnsp virt1.lc and uphold generosity. It is to pur for len thousand me Shang masters of cawdroru," is ~rticuLarly intriguing. Bronze vessels yean to have sons' sons and grandson. gnmuolU ec:«n.ally [reas!,lfC it. (Sh 17.S!1:w,) were used to offer sacrifices to the ancestors and thus to pacify them and maincain their support. C~u1drons in parricw2f were :associ;ated with such The explicit statement that the vessel was made for usc in p2cifying [he: spiro nooons.79 The beheoading of the Shang cauldron mmrs can be undersrood its through sacrifices, like the oracular materia.! discussed in the preceding :as symbolizing me end of the Shang means of determining me will of the di sections, impliu a belief [hat the mentors were 01.[ lusr potentially nor sup vine powers. pordl/c. And rhe sacrifice: of rhe last Shang king makes the rransfer complete. The But if. in the: Tianwang gui, it is Wen who serves and pleases Oi, what chapter records another announcement by Wu: happened to the Shang anccstors! How, in [he afcc:nnarh of the conquest. [Wu) allllounced in [he Zhou temple. soaying: "Blelier. I h;ave heard. [mr] culturcd. were the Sh~ng ~ncestors repl~ced by the Zhou in serving the Di! HinD em ckcc:ued fathcr cultiv;atc:d. hinudf on thc stmdarru of thc mcn of Shang. With [hc be found in the ·Shifu· ch~prer of rhe YiWlluJhu. ~ chapter rhat may indeed dismembercd body ofZhou Irhc Ian Shmg king). I anllounce (the change in ruler date to the early Western Zhou.7'J We are told that after conquering the ship) ro Huvcn ;alld to IHou] Ji ...ICI Shang. King Wu declared: "In declaration to rhe earth altar. (Wu] said: 'It is I. the young one. who p~cifies (my] culrured. deceued nther. M~y it reach The announcement is direcred both to He;aven (the high god) and to H ou Ji to (me]. the young one,'·76 The descendant. King Wu, claims to ~city (sui) (the ancestor of the Zhou people). King Wu acknowledges th;at the Shang his deceued nther. King Wen, and hopes thac this will result in benefits for formerly held the rulership and th;at King Wen modeled himself on the himself. The term Jui is the same one used in me Bo Dong pi to describe Shang. By sacrificing me Shang king and behe;ading the Shang m:asrers of the p~cific~t ion of the spirits. The declaration reveals thac Wu is not at all cauldrons. Wu ends [he .ucrificial system [0 the Shang ancestors. The claim certain of his deceased father's support, is thar now the Zhou,. nor rhe Shang. will be rhe ones to serve Heaven. King Wu's actions in the afterm~rh of the conquest 2fe telling: ·On In the aftermath of the conquest. it is King Wen who is called on to serve wud,tn (day s], rhe king then performed an exorcism, made an inspection. and please Di and thereby bring order ro the reoalm. We rhus find in the Shi and gave a commemorative sacrifice to King Wen. On rhis day. the king es jingo Mao h3S: cablished the government.· 71 All these actions. aken immedi;udy mer the King Wm is ;above. conquest and immediately before the establishment of the Zhou state, ap How glorious hc u in Heaven. pear to be 2CD of consolidation. aimed at driving away malevolent forces ~nd settling the new order. The exorcism. as discussed above, serves to drive , • . Ibid .. . ."b. spirits away from me human ualm-presum~bly. in mis case, the spirits are 19. IUlc ....1n1 here is 1m (r.llufer of ,fM, Yin king, cauldrollJ 10 Wu. also recorded in lhe the Shang ~ncestors. Sacrifices are then given to Wen-presumably to per- YiVIowmw ( •.la:I ). Later lext. prumt such rransfen~. a Itanoiard occurrelKe during a legiti malt change of d)'llallic:s. See. t.g.. the z..cV>wall. Huan. KCond year. in which ,fM, Shang arc reponed 10 have lransftrred nine cauldron. 10 the Zhou. The Shift . "Qinshihuang bellji: re 7'. Su Shaughmllr. "'New' Evidell« ollihe Zhou COnquclI," pp. 60-66. cord. Ihe failure of 1fM, Bm emperor to get rhe cauldrons from lhe Zhou. a bilute tmderllood 76. "Shifu," Yidx>~m~ ••.Iu-b . to .ignif)t the iIlegitirnlcy of dIe QUI dynuty. n.lbid.• • .la:I. 10. "ShiIu.; yjdx>~mw .•.111.1. " ANTHROPOMORPH I ZING THE SPIRITS AN T HROPOMORP H IZING THE SPIRITS " Although Zhou is ;l\1 old state. may [they] frequendy be in [he COUrt of the Di on High, ascending and descending. Its mandate is new. continuously enoompassing the august Are the mIers ofZhou not illUSlriOUS, [DiJ on High's great and generous mandate, thereby commanding and protecting Was rhe mandate ofDi not timdr~ our family, my King Wen ascenth and descends. position, and Hu's person. Residing to the right and left of Oi. The presentation is similar to that seen in the earlier vessels, except th;L.t the Much is said in chese few lines. The Zhou is an old Statt., but only with King ;L.ncestralline is now older. King Li h;L.s ordered the vessel for s;L.crifices to his Wen did Di grant it rhe mandate to rule. Thus. it is Wen who resides with deceased father ;L.nd gr;L.ndfather, whom he thereby hopes to Hm~e rranquil Di, descending to the hum;m realm to receive sacrifices and ascending to the and compliant." The father and grandfather, rendered compli;L.nr through heavens to serve Di and maint:1in his support for the Zhou. Wen thus serves s;L.crifices, are exhorted to approach the "former cultured men" -;L. reference the same function as the Shang ancestors had earlier. to the founders of the dynasty, presumably Kings Wen and Wu. T he latter These ritual exhortations to ancestors continue throughout the dynasty. in rum arc called on to ascend and descend between {he human realm and But what about the descendants? The inscription on the Tianwang gui con the court of O i, preserving Oi's mandate for the Zhou ;L.nd thus protecting dudes: the living king's posicion. T he inscription closes with the King's exhortation th;L.t he able to con King Wen looks down from above. The gready be illustrious king [WuJ makes the inspection, the greatly majestic king [Wul becomes tinue his sacrifices and thus g.in long life and a continuing mandate from Oi: the successor. (Sh 1.1:1) M~y [I), Hu, for cen thousand years greatly bring to realization my many sacrifices, thereby sedcing long life and enr[eating an eternal mandate co Here we see another side of the equation: the living, in this case King Wu, govern attempts to become a proper successor to the ancestor. The deceased Wen in posicion and act as the stem bdow. is presented as watching his descendant from above, and Wu claims legiti macy because of his abiliry to inspect Wen and serve as his successor. The The text is a pr;L.yer to the king's ;L.ncestors to remain with Oi in order to relationship between them, therefore, is bi-ditectional: the living work to protect the king's position. make the deceased into proper ancestors, who will wotk [0 maintain Oi's fa The repeated claim throughout these poems and bronze inscriptions is vor for the living. But, as the deceased are made into proper :mces[Ors, the t h;L.t the deceased ·must be made into proper ;L.ncestors who will then con living promise to make themselves intO proper descendants. vince Oi to maintain support for (he Zhou roy:.a.lline. The living represent T hese themes pervade the Western Zhou bronze inscriptional material. themselves as proper descendants to these proper ;L.ncesIOrs. The living, in A further example is an extremely late vesseL the Hu gui, which was com other words, will follow [he ancestors, but only after the deceased have in S missioned by King Li. ! The vessel was cast in the twelfth, and possibly last, f;L.ct been m;L.de into proper anceSIOrs. year ofLi's reign before his forced exile: The bronze inscriptions and the poems from at [east the ·Zhouson{ sec tion of the Shijing m;L.y rhus have been written from ;L. perspective nor unlike [IJ, Hu [King LiJ, make chis great sacrificial treasured gui tureen, with which to rh;L.t seen in the Shang oracle inscriptions, a perspective, n;L.mely, of liv ing make tranquil and compli ant my humans attempting to coerce the divine powers to grant aid or, ;L.t lease, not august cultured and valorous grandfather and deceased father; may [they] go to the former cultured men, to send down disasters. Statements in these works th;L.t the descendants are simply following the enmple of the ;L.ncestors, who in rum were simply fol lowing the example of Heaven, should perh;L.ps not be taken purely at face 81. Pubfuhed in Luo Xi~h~ng. ·Shuru:i Fufeng raxian Xi·Zhou Liwang Hu gui." AI. value, Instud of reflecting ;L.n assumption that descendants should simply though I dingr« in a few lp«iflC poilltl, my tranlLation of the uIJCrifMion geoerally rollowl that givell in Shaughneuy, Sowrw ofWtl!tr~ Zhow Hil!O'Y, pp. 111- 1:1· foll ow their ancestors, such statements more likely arose as ;L.n attempt by " ANTHR O POMOR,PHIZIN O THS SPIRITS ANTHROPO M OIlPHtZ IN G THB S PIRITS " me desccn ancestor, chen, must be urged [0 become linked with Helven. And the de between the king and the divine powers, and the king has to coax and influ· scendants do follow the ancestors, but only when the ancestors have bun ence those powers into accepting his work. Contrary to Wheatley's 2tcempt made into proper ancestors. There was no more of :m assumprion concern· to read such claims of centering as implying a correlative mode of thought, ing harmony in the Western Z hou than there was in the Shang. [he notion here seems, rather, to involve an attempt by the king to stake out A Statement, quoted above, in the ~Shao gao~ ch2prer of the Sha",SJ/'u, a political claim: he is announcing to Heaven his intention of est2blishing a concerns the fou nding ofLuoyang: Ibe king should come and continue the cemer and is hoping thereby to pin Heaven's support. The assumption is (work) of the Oi on high, and himself serve in the center of the land. ..t2 The not of correlativity but of po[emi.ai antagonism. st2tement, 2mibuted to the Gr.lnd Protector, cle.trly presents the founding Indeed, r think we can go eve n further. Note again thar it is King Cheng of the city as the king continuing the work of the Oi. But the He ZUII,II aves· who is making this announcement and thar the insc ription beg2n with a ref· sel inscribed in the fifth year of King Cheng's reign, characterizes this act in erence [0 King Cheng's receiving abundant blessings from his father (King 2 different way: Wu) in H eaven, King Cheng'S concern here is to mainrun the support of his father, who is in Heaven and, Cheng hopes, maintaining H eaven's sup h was the rime when the Icing (Cheng] firu moved and settled at Chengzhou. H e once agai n received port. The point. then, is to emphasize to the ancestor Wu that it was in fact King Wu's abundant blessingz from Heaven. It Wall the fourth month, bingn Wu 's idea to establish Luo as the new politic.al center. King Cheng thereby (day l)J. hopes to m2intain the support of Wu, who in tum will work to maint2in T he king made a statement [ 0 [he young men or the lineage in the great hall. uying: Heaven's support. 1!arlier The concerns here arc rhus quite comparable to rhose found in the Shang. you r wher, [he duke of the dan, Wall able [0 xcompany King Wen. And then King Heaven (or Oi) is the powerful ~gent , but H eaven is relatively unresponsive Wm to the rituals of the living. The living thus strive to receive the support of the received this [great nundateJ.'" It was when King Wu had conquered the great ancestors, who 2re in rum c.alled on to influence H eaven. The living nuy city Shang that he then, in COUrt, announced [0 Heaven, saying: 1 will present themselves as following Heaven and the 2nCestors, but such 2 pru settle this central territory, and from it rule the peo ple:" (Sh 48.[:(71) entarion is part of a larger go.al of influ encing first the ancestors and, through King Cheng is presenting himself as fulfilling the pbns of his f.uher, King them, Heaven itself. to support the wishes of the living. Wu, who is sending blessings from He2ven above. Overall, Western Zhou hymns and inscriptions were based on building a proper ancestral pantheon thar would then work on behalf of the living to maintain O i's (or Heaven's) support. The ancestors were c.alled on to de h . "Shao gao: Sh4np.., IS.s.a. scend to the human re.alm, receive sacrifices as well as rirua.l exhortations, '). For a IUllcr diJawiorl of the. He tn, sec my 1M Amho'""I(IIC( o/ONIiM, pp. ))-)4. and then ascend to the realm ofOi to serve him and m2intain divine support a,..Two grapm are U1egible Ixre. Tang Lan ("He %Un mingwerl jiuhi: p. 6)~1 ) rud. lhe graphlu ",i~l j( 1$. For I dlt the Shang. with the obvious difference that the Zhou, by sacrificing the last poem does not explain precisely why this solves Jiang .Yuan's problem, but Sh2ng king and beheading his cauldron makers, have replaced the Shang an the ensuing line implies an answer: Jiang Yuan, through her abilities to uti cestral pantheon wim the Zhou ancestral pantheon in the re;tlm ofDi. lize the sacrifices, was able to make Oi descend. She then stepped in his footprint and .absorbed some of his potency. The Art of Sacrifice: The "Sheng min~ Poem of the Not only did this allow Jiang Yuan to become pregnant, but ie also meant Shijing and Hesiod's Thtogcmy that her child, Hou Ji, w.as born with divine powers: And then she completed her months, Further evidence for this reading of culric practices in the Brol}u Age can be The first giving birth was like sprouring. gleaned from the poem ~ Sheng min~ (Mao h4S).8j Here I read me poem as [There occurred) no bursting. no rending. a reflection on the chemes of uccifice-its origins and its significance. 86 without injury, wichouc harm. More explicitly. I argue that the poem includes a r:l.[her complex presenta Thereby manifesring his numinous n1cure (Ii~g). tion of the relationships between ancestors and descendanrs. After providing a dose reading of the poem, I then turn to comparative material from Greece Hou Ji's gift is app.arent ae birth: his numinous nature allows him to emerge and reconsider the larger comparative claims made by the scholars discussed without harming his mother, and his birth is like the sprouting of a plam. in [he first pom of [his chapter. He is thus immediately associated with the generative process. The poem opens by describing the birth of H ou Ji, the ancestor of the Nonetheless, Oi was angry. Zhou people: The high Di was not serene The one who first ~ve birth [0 our people, and not pleased with the yin and Ii s:u:rifices. This was Jiang Yuan. {But} tranquilly she gave birth to the child. H ow did she give birth to the pcopler The sense here would appe.ar to be that Oi did not approve of Jiang Y wn's She was able to perform the yin sacrifice, and she was able to actions. Jiang Yuan used the sacrifices to make Di descend, and without Oi's perform the Ii ucrifice, approval, she stepped in his footprint and captured some of his divine power. so as [0 no longer be childless. She stepped on the hig toe ofDi's fOO{print, Hou J i, in other words, was born of a transgre~ion, in which OJ's potency she was dated about that which enriched her and chat which was appropriated through a deceitful use of the sacrifices. blessed her. Presumably because of Di's displeasure, Jiang Yuan was forced to give up And so she became pregnant, and so it was soon, HouJi: And so she gave birth and so she reared [him]. And then she pbced him in 1 narrow line This was Hou Ji. The oxen and sheep nurtured him between their legs. Jiang Yuan was unable to have a child. But she had one great power: she was And chen she pl:lCed him in 1 forest on the plain. able to perform the yin and si sacrifices ~so as to no longer be childle~.~ The He was found by those who CUt the forest on the plain. And then she pl:lCe.I: o/Od.s The birds then left. (ScockhoLn: MlUeUm of Far Eastern Antiquirie5, 1950), pp. '99- 101. Indeed, in some of rhe HouJi wailed later S«tiolU of.he poeOI below, llargdy quote trom K.lrlgren·J traomtioo. Really spreading. really strong 86. My undenranding of ,1m: poem Iw been greatly enhanced by ,he imerpreu.tiolU of David Knechtgea, Stephen Owen, Willard PererJOJI, and p.uline Yu in W~'j With W. rds; His voice then became loud. Wrili~tQ/>cJllt R~i~t Tuts from &r/, o,i ... , ediled by Pauline Yu, Perer Bol, Stephen Owen, and Willard Peler.on (Berkeley: Univer.ilY ofC.HfornilL Preu, 1000). 70 ANTHROPOMORPHIZING T HB SPI :tITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING TH6 SPIRITS 7' Jiang Yuan keeps trying to abandon her child, but Hou Ji is repeatedly saved At this poim, the frame of rhe poem shifts from a narncive of Hou Ji's by animals and humans. Despite OJ's displeuure. Hau Ji is still favored by actions to the perspective of those dunting me poems. The sacrifices initi those below on tarth. ated by Hou Ji have been handed down, 2nd the ch2nters describe their con Hou Ji continued to grow and was soon able to feed himself by planting; tinued efficacr And [hen he wu actually crawling. And so, our .ucMCeJ, what are they like~ able to stride. able to lund firmly Some pound (the grain), some bale it. so as [0 seck food for [hil mouth. Some sift it, some tread it. He planted with large beans. Washing it until soaked, The bare beans were waving like luamers. Steaming it until sreamed. The gnin that wu cultivated was sprouting.. And so we plan and so we think it over. The hemp and the wheat were thick. We take southemwood, we offer fat. The gourds were ample. We take a ram so as co sacrifice to the 'pirits of the road. And then Hau Jis husbandry Roasringand broiling. had the way ofhdping. So as to stan: rhe foUowing year. He cleared away the dense grass. The sacrifices. if accepted by the spirits, 2110w for the stan of the neXt 2gri Hesowed it in the ydlow earth. Really even, really dense. cultural cycle. Indeed. these sacrifices are enjoyed even by Oi himself. rully growing. really becoming rall. We fill in the .Iou vessds, really extending. rcally flowering. in the dou. in the tUllgvessds. really mongo really good. (when) the fragrance first ucenru really ripe ears, really solid kemds, The high Di tranquilly enjoys it He had his house in T ai. Oh how pungent it is. Hou Ji initiated the ucrifice Hou Ji's gift of being able to aid rhe generative process manifesu itself again. May we not have any fauJu The harvest is enormous. 2nd H ou Ji. with 2mple food. is able to settle So they [the sacrifictl handed down by Hou JiJ reach to the present. down. Hou Ji then handed down the grains to the people 2nd thus began agri- The living are continuing the sacrifices initiated by the ancestor H ou Ji. and culrure. And thus, too. began the sacrifices: when performed correctly, they please OJ. Thus. 2 proper h2rmony of humms, spiria, and the narural. world is And then he Knt down the fine grains. maina..ined by humans continuing the 2griculrurai and $2crificial practices There was black miller, there was double-kerndled. black miller. There was millet with red 'proUts, there was millet with white sprout•. initiated by Hou Ji. Indeed, the poem 1mb agticulrure and the proper use of Planting them txteflllivdy, the black millet. the double-kcmdled sacrifices: the harmony of man and god is achieved through the succcssfuJ bladt millet, appropriation of narure through agriculture and the proper UtiliZ2rion of Reaping them and taking them by the acre. that agricultural produce to fted the gods in sacrifice. Planting them txtctUivdy. rhe millet with red sprour., the millet This may help explain what the poem means when it says that Hou Ji with whittaprouts, initillted sacrifices. He obviously W2S not the first to give sacrifices (since his carrying them on hil,houlder, carrying them on hillnck. mother h2d aiuady done so). The sense 1nstt2d is [hat H ou Ji wu the first So at to rerum and initiate the ..c rifice.. to institute correct sacrifices. in which the proper duties of humans and the 7' ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THB S PIRITS ANTHROPOMORPHIZING THE SPIRITS 13 god were dc:line2rcd: humaru aid in the growth of the narural world and The poem is thus playing on the very themes that have concerned us (hen feed Oi and [he other spirits through sacrifices. The 'pirin in rum throughout this chapter-only here the themes are worked OUt in narrative supporr the next year's cycle (presumably through the control of the rains). form. Jiang Yuan makes a proper descendant by appropria.ting divine power Humans and spirits thus have their designutd duties and their designated through sacrifice, and that descendant then initiates proper sacrifices. which spheres. in time will transform him into a proper ancestor. The sacrifices result in a Thus, the contralt drawn here between the sacrifices of Jiang Yuan and proper genealogical order of ancestors and descendants, each with itS own those ofHou Ji is more than simply chat the mother's were deceitful and the proper sphere of activity. Humans use agricultu~ produce to keep Oi in son's were not. The n:uure of the sacrifices has clearly changed u weD. Heaven, served by me mediating ancestor H ou Ji. and OJ's resulting bless When Jiang Yuan performed sacrifices, Oi was brought down to tread on ings allow for the agricultural produce to continue. A perfect system of ge (he land. W ith Hau Ji's ncrifices, however, Oi remains in the heavens, en nealogical order is created. joying [he ascending fu.gr:tncc. Humans arc in charge of the 19ricultural These pointS, along with the analysis of Shang and Z hou ritua.ls above, work of the earth. and Oi rtmains in his proper place in the heavens, enjoy should lead us to rethink some of the larger comparative claims that have ing the sacrifices given to him. been made co ncerning Chinese Bronze Age views about me relations be But all this was possible only became H ou Ji possessed the numinous tween humans and divinities. I quoted above Keightley's remark that -the power gained from Oi. T hat power enabled him to aid the natural generative Chinese knew neimer a Prometheus nor a Zeus ....., Let us rum to H esiod to process and thus to begin agriculture and sacrifice. And the only reason he evaluate the Statement. possessed that power is because Jiang Yuan had used sacrifices to steal it In the ThcClgony, Hesiod accounted for sacrificial practice through the from Oi. And, even then, the only reason H ou Ji survived long enough to well-known narrative of the mnsgressions of the Titan Prometheus. Ac initiate agriculture and the proper me of sacrifices was be troouction to this book, comparisons that define the cultures in question As Jonathan Z. Smith has argued: nom the viewpoint of one particular practice arc always misleading. The It urikes me that historians of religion have been weakest in interpreting those comparison of these two narratives points to a differenr way of approaching myths which do not reveal a cosmos in which man finds a place to dwell and on these issues. When scholars cu.d this distinction in terms of differing 2$ which he found [lieJ his existen(C. but rather which suggest the problematic tWUre surnptions in Greece lnd China-of tragic diKontinuity and gc:nulogical of cxlstenCe and fundamental tension in the cm:mos. I have in mind such ruditiolUl continuity. respectivdy-they arc: rnistU.ing effect for (.awe and ruding the as dualisric creation myths. Earth·diver traditiolUl, Tricksters. or the complex narra· . normative product of sacrifice as a su.rting assumption. The point is of relt tives of Com or Rice Mothel'S who aeate by 10athsome" processes (e.g.. rubbi ng vance, for. if I am right that tbese arc normative claims for sacrificial action the dirt off their bodies. by defecation. scaetion). Oearly these mythologies. many ramer Ihan pervasive assumptions. mcn a different form of cu1runl analysis of which arc extremely archaic. point to a different spiritual horizon [han thar de· is called for. instead of trying to read other aspects of these cultures in terms scribed by Eliadc:u the fundamental "archaic onrology: 91 of such assumptions, we should sirw.re these nonnative S2crificial. clainu I would go further than Smith here: I would question the very usefulness of within the longer cultural deb.arc of which they were a part. If these are me terms such as "a rchaicMand Mspiritual horizon." Nonetheless. the basic point normative claims of the sacrificial experu supported by the courtS, then how Smith raises is an importam one: there is no empirical evidence to support were they received! As we shall see in the next chapter, both of these sacrifi the notion that harmony with the "sacred" is somehow more primordial in cial models became the objects of significant critique, and one cannot under human experience than are radical tensions and conflicts. Even for those stand those critiques without understanding the practices that were being scholars like C hang who wish to claim that such an assumption existed in criticized. early China, there is no basis for arguing that this assumption is closely linked to some archaic. primitive experience lost by other civilizations. Conclusion But. in the case at hand. the argument is not only methodologically flawed but also empirically inaccurate: I have followed Keighrley in arguing As discussed earlier in this chapter. both K. C. Chang and Julia Ching pos· against the hypothesis that shamanism was a guiding force in the State socie· ited a primordial experience of shamanism underlying Chinese tradition. and both tried to connect this fi.mher to an even more primordial sacred ex ties of Bronze Age C hina. Keighdey's provocative argument about "making perience of humanity in general Indeed. both argued mat insofar as such a ancestors" presents the ritual systems of the Shang court as anempts to in· primordial. shamanistic experience underlies all civilizations, China is thus fluence nom the bonom up. The higher. non·ancestral gods were the most powerful beings. but they were also relatively impervious to human rituals. closer to mat sacred linking of Heaven and Earth than is the WesL Even if Ching and C hang's arguments about China were correct, their attempts to The spirits of deceased humaru were more maUeable. but. even here. a hier archy held: the more distant in rime the deceased human. the more powerful characterize shamanism. as well as a belief in continuity between the human but less subject to influence it became. The concern of the ritual system was and divine realms. as primordial forms of human spiriruality would still be thla ro transform these deceased humans into proper ancestors. highly suspeCt. Why is continuity somehow more primordial. and the dis continuity they see in the West what Chang calls an Maberrarion" in human H owever. although my rt2dings of the oracl e-bone inscriptions have largely followed Keighdey·s. I reach different conclusions. In particular. I ity's history! question Keightley's attempts to rt2d the Bronze Age material as evidence of a proto-bureaucratic mentality as defined by Weber. The Bronze Age sacri ficial systems supported by the Shang and Zhou courts do not. I have ar primordW. unciangingJyllcm ofbeBd. u lher ,han to nngoing.. ever.changing narrat;~.tha, gued. revt21 an assumption of harmony between humans and gods. nor do are cOlUluntly being reworked and r(visc